Letter: Cut out the clear-cutting

Why is Yale engaged in clear-cutting forests for short term profits? In Washington County, Maine, out of sight of lower New England, the Wagner Corporation engages in aggressive clear-cutting of forest lands on the behalf of Yale. I have been a longtime admirer of Yale having grown up in New Haven where my father was on the faculty for 40 years. Why then is Yale asserting its premier leadership position to engage in and therefore promote environmental degradation such as clear-cutting. The practice leads to soil erosion, the displacement and loss of wildlife, fish, and bird species, increased carbon in the atmosphere contributing to global warming, a loss of biodiversity, an increased risk of insect infestation and poor forest regeneration. Does Yale do this simply because it can get away with it? Would they be engaged in such practices closer to home where their actions would be visible to their donors? I would encourage the News to investigate this. Yale is a great institution. It is unworthy of such behavior and does injustice to the members of its community who will be associated with it.

James Plunkett, Ph.D.

Ann Arbor, MI

March 29

The writer is a psychologist.

Comments

blueyes1119

Thank you, Dr. Plunkett for your letter challenging these practices. Yes, the Yale Daily News could do a great service to the University by not only investigating the clear cutting practices, but also the link between the endowment, the mysterious Bayroot, Wagner Management, wind developer Angus King, and the web of nefarious cronyism that lurks beneath it all.

Yale forestlands being managed and cut the way they are in Maine should be an embarrassment to the world class Yale Forestry School. The newest endeavor, the support of environmentally destructive industrial wind sites, deserves even more scrutiny. Can support of a useless, unpredictable, unreliable source of electricity in the form of 400 foot tall wind turbines be justified when mountains are blasted away, hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of these mountains are leveled, wildlife habitat is permanently destroyed, and the well-being of people living too close is threatened? Yale, get your green-washed heads out of academia and investigate what your university is doing in beautiful Maine. Come on up, we’ll show you around and you will get a far different view about wind power.

gempaint

wind turbines have limited capacity.
75% loss in no wind
5% loss in “parasitic” draw
10-30% loss in transmission
add to the loss 30-60 acres of land for each turbine.
YALE has to be making out in carbon credits for these things to make much sense to them.